USSR VIEWS ON THE NATURE OF VIRUSES AND THEIR ORIGIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120169-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 14, 2011
• Sequence Number: 169
• Publication Date: July 7, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION = ~"C?F'' T "?
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INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY tFuSR
SUBJECT Scientific -Biology, medicine, infectious
diseaeea, viruses
HOW
PUBLISHED Bi7=onthly periodical ..,
WHF,RE ,
PUBLISHED Mcecev
DATE ,
PUBLISHED Jar 1953
DATE OF
INFORMATION
DATE DIST. ~ ?7u1 195?
SUPPLEMENT TO
LANGUAGE Russian _.,;,;~ I REPORT NO.
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~ccording to the Russian ed;tor's note, the srticle from
vhich the following information vas extracted was published as
a part of a diecuesiun on noncellular forme of 11fe being con-
ducted by Mikrobiologiya.]
K. Sukhor (l, 2) ass made attempts to defend the idea that catalysis plays
a role Sn the multiplication of v?ruses. He suggested that 1f the precurscs
of viruses are low-molecular products of protein synthesis that are devoid of
antigenic properties, the obJections sgsinst W. Stanley's and J, Northrop's
hypothesis of the autocatalyt:.c multiplication of viruses become invalid.
Sukhov endows viruses with the properties of enzymes vhich are able to syn-
theai;e proteins. The corrections made by Sukhov do not support Stanley and
Northrop's hypothesis to a great extent, hOVevez. The low-molecular products
also must have some sort of specificity; if th_s were not the case, any virus
vould propagate in any pl~_nt
Contrary to the assumption made by Stanley sad Northrop, the propagation
of a virus does not correspond to the process or.curring in ro-_ec*.ion with the
activation of a proteolytic enzyme. When swine neps7.n is added to chicken FcF-
sinogen, chicken pepsin rather than wine pepsi~_s formed. In other words,
the specificity of the final product is determined by the precursor rather than
the activator.. 7_? viruses were to act like enzymes 7.a activatl.ng precursors
present in the cell, a mixture o: vi.ruse> or at least a mixture of varieties
of a virus would form Th7s does cot happen: only one virus 1s formed,
Furthermore the theory of auto::.-s'_ysis does not explain the absence of propa-
gation of a related virus 7 a plant slready infected vith a virus, If the
virus activates precursors; :here is no apparent reason why the process of
activation should not be in~tisted, notwithstanding the exl.stence of a pri-
mary infection, by the seco~i virus after the plant has been infected with its
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Ascent observations by V, Ryzhkov Z.ndicate that propagation of viruses de-
pends to a considerable extent on tl:e amino-acid composition of the medium and
that analogs of natural amino acids suppress this propagation (3)?
Lately Sukhov has abandoned the theory of catalysis and now inclines to
the view that viruses, igcluding those which have been obtained in the form of
crystalline proteins, are living organisms (4, 5, 6), Strangely enough, he
assumes that viruses are alive only during the period of their active propa-
gation, and that they become lifeless when they are in a desiccated state.
Data obtained in Ryzhkov's laboratory shoved that the virus of tobacco
mosaic disease Ss to some extent independent in Sts.metaboli9m and that it
continues to accumulate even when the synthesis of normal proteins stops (7).
For Snstaace, the process of accumulation continues during nitrogen or phoepho-
rue starvation of the plants, 1. e,, under conditions when the total quantity
of protein dimin:5hes considerably is a healthy plant. In diseased olanta, the
lowering of the total protein content is insignificant, the titer of the virus
increases even when the quantity of normal protein drops considerably,
Proponents of the chemical nature of viruses attempted to ,justify their
theory by citing data obtained in the morphological investigation of viruses,
Such attempts met with little success, however..
Investigation of the virus of tobacco mosaic disease with the electron
microscope shoved that the particles of this virus are rode approximately
280 mu long, with a diameter of 15 lnil Revever, the length of the rods is
not uniform: although 65-?0~ of them have s length oP. 280-320 mK there are
always ~zaller rcds whose dimensions lie within the range of 40-280 ~,
Stereoscopic examination proved that the images of particles smaller than the
average are not due to inclination toward the plane of observation, but actu-
all;; to the presence of shorter par;'_c'_es
When exposed to the action of ultrssow~d, the long rods break up into
short rode, If rods of 320 m/i have been prevalent before treatment with ultra-
sound waves, lengths of 80 mN , and later of 40 Glii, prevail after the treat-
ment. Unfortunately, precise data oa the connection betwo_en the process of
breaking of the rode by ultrasound and inactivation of the virus are not avail-
able. Of great i.atereet is the finding of C. Kausck:e to the effect that in
solutions of the virus of tobacco moss!: disease, the original rod length is
restored subsequently to irrsdiatio^ with ultrasound !8j One may remark in
this connection that the effects of ultrasoued on cells are also reversible
to a certain extent' the cells occes_onally restore their life activity ever
after intense irradiation with ultrasound wave,.
The variation in the size or the rods o' tobacco mosaic disease virus are
not in agreement with the assumption that these rods are macromolecules. If
they were macromolecules, more uniform d:menezons and sizes which are multiples
of unit molecules compnstng the macromolecules vouid be expected. If the parti-
cles that are visible under tt:E;/potte=~: received ice most general =xprras urn in the writings of
G. Bosh'yen (10~, Other inves?.igato:= thought that; virus is *.he filterable
phase or stage of a definite microbe; Ensh'yan assumes that a virus is the fil-
terable phase of several different microbes, Thus, Eosh'yan describes the fol-
lowing phases of the virus of equine infectious :inemlat gram-positive bipolar
bacilli, gram-negative bacilli, sarcinne, yeast, and forms resembling Mycelia.
3osh'yan also repor*.o that he obtained rcicrobie'_ f~~zms of the virusee of foot-
and-mou?h 3lsease, equine encephalo~ellt_a, rabies. Japanese encephalitis, and
swine influenza liowerer, he does not give ~l'/ da+a on the properties of the
microbial cultures he obtained.
In connection with the ly-pcthesis .hat viruses are filterable forms of
bacteria, one might mention the following. In *.he course of investigations on
the etiology of virus diseases, mi robes cap;'ole pf prodxing these diseases
were ieolated in mat>,;~ cases. Ivanov=Y.iy isolated from the unfilt~sted ,juice of
a plant having the tobacco mosaic diser,se z bacterium capable of producing this
disease. Subsequently microbes, :!